Runnin’ Utes legend Alex Jensen prepares his team for a rivalry showdown with BYU

It’s been 30 years since Alex Jensen suited up against BYU for the first time.

On Saturday, he will have another first game against the Cougars, this time as the head coach for the Utes in his first year coaching for his alma mater.

He won’t be the only Ute experiencing a rivalry first.

There is not a single player on this year’s Utah roster from the Beehive State. The only player with ties to Utah is Keanu Dawes, who lived in the state as a child before moving to Houston. His uncle, Derek Dawes, played for BYU after prepping at Cottonwood High. Dawes is also the only returning player who has logged minutes against his rival to the south.

But Jensen isn’t worried about his players understanding the magnitude of the game.

“Hopefully they’ll believe me,” Jensen said. “I think as soon as it starts, they’ll feel it.”

The No. 9 Cougars have a little more rivalry game experience.

BYU features more returners who got a taste of the rivalry last season compared to Utah, but this year’s Cougar roster is unlike any other in program history, with high-caliber out-of-state players like AJ Dybantsa, Rob Wright lll and Kennard Davis in the starting unit.

The only true rotation player who claims Utah as his home state is senior star Richie Saunders. Keba Keita did attend Wasatch Academy, a boarding school located in Mt. Pleasant, for his junior and senior high school seasons, but is originally from Mali. He also played at Utah before transferring to BYU in 2024.

BYU coach Kevin Young, while a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, did not grow up a major BYU fan. He got his first impression of the Utah-BYU rivalry watching “Big Monday” on ESPN in his home state of Georgia.

“I grew up in the south,” Young said before his first matchup against Utah in 2025, “and back then it was ‘Big Monday’ on ESPN, so I would stay up in my basement and watch games … that’s how I watched BYU games back in the day. I was never a huge BYU guy, but they were always on late.”

“I’m very familiar with how much his game means and even as a professional coach, I coached a bunch of guys who played at ‘The U.,’” Young added.

Utah’s Kendyl Sanders, a freshman from Los Angeles, said that he only knew a little bit about the rivalry before moving to Salt Lake City. His welcome to the rivalry came during football season when he saw the intensity in the community.

“I didn’t realize how big it was until I went to a football game and saw how serious it got,” Sanders said. “I’ve heard it’s a very serious thing.”

The first of two Big 12 games between Utah and BYU this season will tip off on Saturday at 8 p.m. MST. The game will air on ESPN.